Three members of Grounds Maintenance became trapped inside the elevator by Student Health Services in the basement of Building E on the Main Campus. The Independent’s Ryland Roberts interviewed the men through the closed door of the malfunctioning elevator while waiting for help to arrive.

“Aw man, we are gonna get stuck in here,” one man told the Independent he had thought, just before the elevator stopped working. He had to yell to be heard through the door. 

Asked how long they had been stuck in there, another simply said, “Too long.”

This is not the first time this elevator has broken down. One of the maintenance laborers from Grounds Maintenance, David Ming, said he had been trapped in the same elevator three months ago.

When NEIU’s Engineers arrived to get the elevator open, one of them jokingly said, “Eh, let them cook,” before rescuing the three men trapped inside.

The incident happened on Sept. 4, 2024. The Independent became aware of the malfunction at 9:10 am. The three men were released from the elevator at 9:26 am on the same day. As of the writing of this article, the elevator is back in operation.

Broken elevators are a frequent occurrence at NEIU. The elevator in the Student Union Building by the cafeteria broke down multiple times last year and has now been out of order for multiple months, as has one of the elevators in the Ronald Williams Library. The elevator at the north end of the Fine Arts Building is also not functioning. Elevators at the Nest were frequently out of order for days at a time last semester.